In a battle of aces, the A’s lose a big Game 1, and now they’ve got to turn up the volume vs. Verlander

OAKLAND—Except for one Big Bang, the A’s got shut down, shaved up, smushed and shushed in Game 1 Friday.

Except for one incredible burst of Coliseum noise, most everything was unnervingly quiet.

Except for Yoenis Cespedes’ rocket-launch two-run home run in the seventh, the A’s best couldn’t match Detroit’s best in the Tigers’ 3-
2 victory.

And even the A’s largest crowd in more than nine years—48,401 fans dying to go crazy–couldn’t save them.

Or yell very much, actually.

Not with Tigers starter Max Scherzer mowing the A’s down into the seventh, not with Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez knocking around Bartolo Colon early.

Not on this anxious ALDS night.

Nope, the A’s need it loud when they’re in the Coliseum, and they just couldn’t pump up the volume.

“Obviously, Scherzer’s Scherzer and he was on his game tonight,” A’s catcher Stephen Vogt said.

“We tried to take advantage of every opportunity you get—there just weren’t many opportunities… When you’ve got that kind of stuff
coming at you, it’s tough to string together a bunch of hits.”

On Friday, Colon was off-kilter, gave up three first-inning runs, and barely held on through six innings (giving up 10 hits).
Colon settled it down after the early-going, but the damage—with Scherzer throwing darts—was too much to overcome.

“He got out of sync,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Colon’s first inning, when he gave up two doubles, two singles and hit Torii Hunter with a pitch.

“You saw balls up in the zone, which you normally don’t see from him—hits a batter—so it took him an inning to get back into his rhythm.”

The A’s offense could not make up for that, and that made things awfully quiet for a long while.

Scherzer had a one-hitter into the seventh, and even after Cespedes’ blast, Scherzer kept it together through that inning.

Then Detroit’s best two relievers finished it off.

Scherzer, the probable 2013 AL Cy Young winner, struck out 11 A’s in his seven innings and was wiping them out until Brandon Moss’ infield hit preceded Cespedes monster shot.

Including the five strikeouts by Tigers relievers Drew Smyly and Joaquin Benoit (who struck out Brandon Moss, Cespedes and Reddick in the bottom of the ninth), the A’s struck out 16 times.

In the middle of the A’s order, Josh Donaldson struck out twice, Moss struck out three times, Cespedes twice and Reddick three times.

“Three pretty good pitchers and they’re go-to guys to finish out games, at least with Smyly and Benoit,” Melvin said.

“Would’ve been nice to get a little something going early in the game, put a little pressure on them early, try to get Scherzer’s pitch-count up so he wouldn’t get as far as he did.

“Maybe not our best offensive night, but he pitched pretty well, too.”

Scherzer was too good. Colon wasn’t good enough. The A’s weren’t good enough. The Tigers were better.

And that is a problem the A’s must solve immediately, or else this short five-game series could get out of hand in a blink.

Plus, it might not get appreciably easier any time soon–in Saturday’s Game 2, the A’s will throw rookie Sonny Gray against 2012 AL Cy Young Justin Verlander–who dominated the A’s twice in last year’s ALDS.
Of course, the Giants lost the first two games of last year’s NLDS at home and then won the next three in Cincinnati. (This year, Game 5 would return back to Oakland.)

But the Reds didn’t have anybody like Scherzer or Verlander on their staff, and that made all the difference.

If the A’s can’t beat Verlander and the Tigers in Game 2, they would face the prospect of needing to win three consecutive games—with Scherzer and Verlander lined up to pitch Game 5, if necessary.

“I feel like we’re already on the verge of the World Series again,” Benoit told reporters in the Tigers clubhouse afterwards.

So yes, Game 2 looms as a massive moment for the A’s, who didn’t quite meet the challenge in Game 1.

Except for one electric charge, the A’s went quietly and meekly on Friday, which is just not their style.

And not the way they can play it, even for one more game in this series.

The first inning was huge for the tigers. Although they had many more baserunners the A’s were a swing away. Would like to see them hit Verlander like the Gmen did. 3 homers for Riddick would be sweet! But it’s not all doom and gloom. Cabrera looks really limited swinging the bat and outside the horrible first inning the Tigers didn’t get much else going. Doolittle looked solid. If grey survives the first inning I think the A’s get the much needed home split.
Hey Lew Wolff, the fans didn’t get too many opportunities to get riled up, but that’s what crowds used to look like at O.Co before you bought the team…
Let’s
Go
Oakland!!

Leonard C. Bonilla

The most notable thing ere is the lack of comments about this game. Where are the Oakland fans? Where are the “A’s” fans from San Jose? (contrary to Lew Wolff’s assertions there just aren’t any) If this were an article about the SF Giants there would be 50 to 80 comments on average. The A’s are in the playoffs and only one person cares enough to comment about the game. This should be proof that the Bay Area cares about the Giants and the 49ers and the Raiders and not much about the A’s. I don’t get it.

T mathews

I was there at the game … Were you? Tim you are writing incorrect information!
The Fans of the Oakland A’s were very loud last night, through out the game. Continuous chanting through out the enire game. Could it be you only hear what you personally want to hear? Are you bias?
Please write about the facts and do not put in personal input. You lose respect from readers.

Dirk Suave

Oh and I shouldn’t fail to mention that the broadcasters just felt the need to bring up the sewage problem during post game comments. That crap has happened twice but they made it seem like its a regular occurance. Pathetic.

Michael Schafer

We must have been at different games. The place was loud. At least the fans were. The A’s bat were another story. Every two strike count fans cheered. In the ninth inning the fans stood and creed the whole time even in section 301. Your negative reporting does not help build a fan base.

biggiep

The fact that you take this as a personal insult is childish. If anything, it’s a good thing that the media over exaggerates how bad the stadium is because it puts more national pressure on Lew Wolfe to do something about it.

Nipper

The A’s will be bounced out quickly. Green and gold…..bah …humbug!

Dirk Suave

Childish? Whatever. I’m born and raised Oakland and I didn’t appreciate the announcer making it seem like the sewage problem happens often during a playoff broadcast.